Truce
by E.M.K.81
Summary: Metro Man and Megamind come to a truce for the first time. Takes place long before the movie.


TRUCE

Disclaimer: I don't own anything, I don't get any payment for writing, I'm just doing this for fun. Since English is not my mothertongue, I want to appologoze for spelling mistakes and I hope you enjoy reading nevertheless. Please review!

It was a cold day in Metrocity. Metroman was sitting in his parents homes living room, watching television. His parents had already gine to bed and he was just about to go to sleep to, when breaking news were anounced.

A few seconds later, Roxanne Richi's face appeared on TV and she told that Megamind had escaped from prison again. „So soon?" Metroman growled, „I really should talk to the warden! Usually they keep him for at least a week. I just brought him back this morning and now he's at large again!"

It only took a few minutes more and the TV went out, the lights went off – the whole city was pitch-black.

Metroman could only guess what might have happened. He was quite sure this was Megaminds doing. Obviously the villain had cut off the energy for Metrocity. Metroman knew he had to do something about it – it was winter, it was cold, there was snow and ice, people would freeze if he didn't stop Megamind soon.

Metroman flew high above the city. His plan was simple: Megamind wouldn't cut off his own energy source so he had to find the only building with lights and radiators working. To his surprise there were a few buildings with their lights on – the hospitals and the police stations. Wait – police stations? He already knew Megamind didn't want to kill and always made sure their fights would stay away from hospitals, but there was no reason for Megamind to let the police stations function nearly normal.

But this made it quite difficult to find Megamind. There were so many lights, he couldn't be sure where the villain was right now and Metrocity was a big city. Metroman had no idea where to start searching. Damn it, he was a hero, he had to do something, but he knew that being clever was not his strength. He was the good looking hero with superhuman strength, but not with a superhuman brain. Sometimes he wondered how things would have turned out had he and Megamind been friends or at least managed to work together. One had superhuman strength and the other a superhuman brain – they would be undefeatable.

Then it hit him: Metrocity had more than one energy sources. If Megamind had cut them all off, he must be in the central building of Metrocitys energy-delivering company. From there he could regulate the electricity so precisely, he could decide which room had light and warmth and which not. Megamind wouldn't need to build a gigantic robot or something else, he would simply reprogram the company's computers, which would take much less time.

Metroman didn't break through the walls as he usually did. He simply opened the door, which was unlocked, to his surprise.

Megamind sat in a chair at the main computer terminal and grinned. "You may arrest me, Metroman, but who will reprogram this computer? I doubt any human would manage to do so before Christmas. Are you sure the city will survive without electricity three weeks? Remember, it is winter and maybe you are the only person who can stand the coldness." Metroman didn't know what answer he could give for Megamind was right. Of course they would call the best qualified people in the country and they would repair the damage – but how long would this take? Maybe Megamind underestimated humans, but one day without electricity was bad enough, a week would ruin Metrocity and kill too many people.

"What do you think you gain with this?" Metroman inquired. Megamind let out a chuckle. "I just want you to never bother me again. If you promise, I'll remove my little virus immediately."

"I can't." Metroman answered, "I'll never leave Metrocity at your mercy!" "Okay, then – take me to the prison and we will see if you or anyone else will be able to remove my new little program from this computer."

Metroman glared an Megamind for a few moments. Then he let himself slump on a chair nearby. "Okay, this time you want to do it without the usual fight. I got that message. You want to talk? Okay, let's talk." Metroman offered.

"O no, there's no way persuading me to give up on my evil plan. Right now I have Metrocity and I have you exactly where I want you. I demand – you obey, that's how it's going to be."

"Maybe not – you know you can't win this either, because I still can take you back to one very cold and very dark prison and it's going to stay cold and dark so you better pray for the technicians to remove your evil computer virus soon. Maybe it will take time until Christmas, but this will be the longest, coldest and darkest three weeks in your life!" Metroman threatened, but he was not sure if Megamind hadn't already thought of this possibility before.

Megamind faked a yawn. "Stop boring me. Listen, I make an offer and I will make this offer only once. If you agree to my ultimatum, I will remove the little evil program immediately and everything will be normal again."

"Let's get this over with, Megamind, what do you want?"

"I want Old Sammy 00765 released from prison. He's never to be imprisoned again."

Metroman wondered if Megamind just made a joke. Why would he go through all that trouble? Megamind could simply take that prisoner with him the next time he broke out of jail.

"I'm not the major, I can't grant him pardon." Metroman replied. "Of course the major will listen to you, if you ask him to do." Megamind said with a smile that may have been intended to look sweet but it certainly wasn't. Something about Megamind wasn't right.

There had been no banter, no hostage, no kidnapping and no fighting – Metroman knew how much Megamind enjoyed their fighting, so if the blue skinned villain decided to skip all his bravado, all his so much beloved public entrances and threads and went directly to bargaining, something must be very wrong. Usually Megamind did never even think about bargaining.

Metroman decided he had no time for Megaminds games, not today, so he said: "Megamind, I have only one reason to play along – I will give you an honest answer and expect a similar honest answer from you! My parents are very sick. My mother suffered a heart attack and my father suffers from cancer. They have only days to live and I plan to spend those days with them and not hunting you down. So maybe we can call a truce 'till Christmas. After Christmas we may start fighting again."

Megaminds eyes widened and Metroman detected a slight quivering on his ach-enemys lips. Megamind bowed his head a little and spoke in a soft, low voice: "That's why I am doing this – Sammy is some sort of father-figure to me. He is very old now but they won't pardon him, for he has at least five live-sentences. All his pleas for pardon were rejected. I don't want him to die in prison, I want him to die as a free man. So if you talk to the major, I'll switch the lights on right now and I won't terrorize Metrocity until the 20th January. Agreed?"

"Agreed" Metroman held his hand out to Megamind, but the blue skinned alien didn't take it. "What are you doing?" Megamind asked a little worried, "I thought we have an agreement?"

"Of course we do. I just wanted to shake hands on the deal – it's a gentleman's agreement, isn't it?"

"Okay" Megamind reluctantly took Metromans hand to shake it a little. Then he turned round and typed a code into the computerterminal. Only a split-second later the whole city was back to normal.

Metroman did talk to the major. He surely didn't tell anything about his deal with Megamind but instead made it look like it had been his idea, that he only pitied the old criminal. The major decided to be generous and signed the pardon for Old Sammy.

For Metrocity it was the most peaceful Christmas eve they ever had since Megamind's first attack at the City. But for Metroman it was the saddest in his live, for it was the first one without his parents. He was alone, sitting under a huge Christmas tree, staring at the still unlit candles. Why would he light them? He was alone.

The doorbell rang and he went to open it. He was more than surprised when he saw Megamind and his sidekick Minion before his door. "Good evening" Metroman greeted. They had a truce, so why shouldn't he be polite?

"I just came over to… to tell you not to worry about Old Sammy… he'll never commit any crime again" Megamind seemed to choke on the words and couldn't hide his tears. "Sorry, the cold wind… my eyes are very sensitive…" he tried to explain.

"Come in please" Metroman invited them into his house. "I'm alone too, so there's no reason why we shouldn't have a nice hot cup of tee together."

"Seems we are destined to do everything together, don't we?" Megamind tried to laugh but it came out as a sob, "We even had to loose our parents together, and now we have lost our adoptive parents too." Minion handed his master a handkerchief and said: "But I'm still there for you."

Metroman went to the kitchen to get some steaming hot tea for them. He found Megamind sitting at the carpet in the livingroom, next to him standing Minion as far as "standing" could be said about a fish in a robotic body.

"I want to thank you" Metroman said, "For this peaceful weeks. I really appreciate the time I could spend with mom and dad." Megamind took one of the cups and nodded. "It's okay. I was rather busy – had to rebuild many robots. You did a lot of damage, you know."

Minion shook his head. "But Sammy…" Megamind stopped his sidekick with a glare. Metroman knew enough. His enemy had spend the last weeks the same way he had – sitting at the deathbed of his adoptive father, nursing him the best he could. Neither of them wanted to talk about it right now.

"Since there's no reason to wait till 20th January, we can end our truce if you like." Megamind offered. "No, I'd like to have a peaceful Christmas. Maybe we could extend our truce? Every Christmas we call a Christmas-truce and of course you and Minion are welcome to visit me, if you don't want to spend Christmas in jail."

"I'm not sure – there's a Christmas party in jail and it's so much fun, I… Okay, I think no one will notice if I slip away to make a social visit since you seem to be that lonely at Christmas…"


End file.
